


Sunrise

by AniPendragon



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash, Romance, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 11:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5705938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniPendragon/pseuds/AniPendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taiyang comes back to Vale in between missions. Qrow is the only one that sees him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> I will launch this ship if I have to get out and push it myself. Behold, the first of many TaiQrow fics! Tai's hard to write, because we don't have a personality for him yet. Hopefully I'm not too far off base.
> 
> Comments and constructive feedback welcome!

The ship came down low but never actually landed. A single man with golden hair dropped out of the belly of the ship and touched down on the courtyard. Then the ship was gone. It was early dawn – the sun's rays just barely brushing the horizon. The sky had just started to turn pink and purple.

The man, who some, if they tried hard enough, would recognize as Taiyang Xiao Long, headed for a specific part of the guest quarters for Beacon Academy. He wore no visible weapon, an odd thing for a Huntsman, but then, it might just have been hidden, as some were.

Taiyang didn't bother with knocking on doors, he leaned outside the building he'd gone looking for and called up the man inside on his scroll.

"What?" asked the man on the scroll. He had a gruff voice, groggy with sleep and probably a hangover.

"Outside. Two minutes. Wear pants," said Taiyang. His voice was clipped and sharp. He tried not to think too hard about the man on the other line. About the reason he was always hung over. Shook off the thought and snapped his scroll shut.

Taiyang wasn't supposed to be back yet. That should have gotten his companion outside pretty quickly.

Sure enough, four minutes later, Qrow Branwen came stumbling outside. His sword-scythe strapped to his lower back and his eyes squinting against the dawn. The sky had picked up orange-gold streaks now. The sun just barely visible over the Emerald Forest. Light slowly leaked across the courtyard.

"Tai?" grumbled Qrow, his eyes going wide despite the squint. "The hell are you doing here?"

Taiyang stuffed his hands in his pockets and managed a shrug. His cheeks burned a bit. He wasn't supposed to be back yet. He wasn't supposed to have finished yet. But both he and the Council had forgotten just how brutal he was when he got going. It hadn't taken Taiyang long, once he'd wanted to be home.

But it never had. He'd just been out of the game too long to remember exactly how brutal his pace was once he put his mind to it.

"I finished," said Tai, finally breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between the men. This, the silence, the loss of rhythm, was growing all too familiar. He and Qrow had once been two sides to the same coin. Partners in all but one sense of the word (though Tai had seen… never mind. It wasn't important).

"The fuck?" Qrow's face said as much as his words. "How… when… what?" The last word seemed to be what he'd decided on.

Tai shrugged and pulled his hands from his pockets. He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. This was new. This was far too new. He and Qrow had never underestimated each other in the field back in the day, but this wasn't back in the day. This was the here and the now. And Qrow, drunk and reckless and snarling as he was, knew Taiyang. Knew that Taiyang had only one method of dealing with such an infestation so quickly by himself.

"How?" said Qrow, rephrasing and repeating all at once. His eyes bore holes into Tai's form. Tai shifted uncomfortably and looked away. Folded his arms across his chest and swallowed hard before speaking.

"I kicked off," he said. And there, the words were in the air now. They hung between them, tense and awful. Qrow shook his head.

"Jesus Christ," he swore. He shook his head. Grimaced. Stopped. Looked at Taiyang. "How bad?"

Tai shrugged, tried to play it off as casual. Tried not to act like the last time he'd gone into a berserker rage hadn't resulted in his being kicked out of the Huntsmen Guild.

"Blacked out." The words were quiet, almost a confession. Tai didn't look at Qrow. He suspected Qrow was staring at him – could feel the way Qrow's eyes burnt holes right through him. Still, he didn't look, for fear of meeting the other man's gaze.

" _Damn_ it, Tai." Now Taiyang looked up at Qrow. Dared to look at the man in time to see Qrow turn away and throw his arms into the air. Then, Qrow turned back to Tai. Stared. Combed his fingers through his hair and swore again.

"You remember what happened last time you kicked off? Went beyond just the eyes and the fire?" asked Qrow. Taiyang said nothing. "Well, do you?" The words were sharp enough that Taiyang flinched.

He looked away from Qrow to say, "'Course I do. You think I'm an idiot? I know what berserker states do to people, Qrow."

"Yeah, I'm sure," snapped Qrow. Taiyang looked back to see Qrow bare his teeth at Tai. "Your god damn kid has it too, you know that? I watched her kick off during an exhibition match back in Signal. Nearly killed someone. If _you_ can't control it…" Qrow shook his head and threw his hands into the air. "Who the hell is supposed to teach her?"

Taiyang bristled and stalked toward Qrow. His boots made heavy sounds against the stone path. The morning breeze tousled both his and Qrow's hair. The sky was yellow and pink, tinged with blue. Fluffy clouds dotted it in arrays of white and pale grey. The sun had risen above the treeline.

"Don't you talk to me about my daughters," snarled Taiyang. He saw his red eyes reflected in Qrow's. Felt his teeth sharpen into points. Smells of carrion from dead forest creatures, alcohol on Qrow's breath, and lavender shampoo from Qrow's hair rose up to greet him as his nose sharpened. He could see every individual hair in Qrow's stubble. Could sense every tiny movement, down to the fluttering of Qrow's eyelashes when he blinked.

In that moment, the entire world opened up beneath Taiyang's fingertips, and all he wanted to do was crush it into a ball so no one would ever hurt him or his kids again.

"That," said Qrow in a voice softer and more concerned than Taiyang would have thought, "is exactly what I'm talking about."

Taiyang bristled further. Then, he caught sight of his reflection in Qrow's eyes again. A monster, not a father. He swallowed hard.

Everything vanished. His eyes went back to purple. His teeth dulled to human levels. The berserker faded, and all that was left was the man. The pink fell out of the sky, leaving only muted orange and yellow. The sun continued to rise.

"I don't want to hurt them," said Tai, his voice hoarse.

Qrow put a hand on his shoulder. "You only hurt them when you leave."

"I need to fight. Summer…" Tai trailed off. "She would have wanted it."

Qrow sighed. "Yeah, she would have." Then, his expression hardened. He stabbed a finger into Tai's chest. "But she wouldn't have wanted you to kill yourself for your cause. The girls need you."

"Qrow…"

"I… need you." His voice was low, hoarse, so much so that Tai couldn't be sure he'd heard Qrow correctly. And _oh_. That tone of voice. That ducked head and tight grimace. Yeah…

A lot of things started to make sense, about then.

"I'm sorry," said Tai, because he didn't know what else to say.

"So am I," said Qrow, for an entirely different reason. Tai knew the reason. Knew it was part of a confession he'd never meant to make.

They stood together, awkwardly. Neither one speaking. Minutes passed. The sun rose. The students of Beacon were waking up. Soon, they would see these two men in the courtyard and wonder who they were. Soon, there would be rumours. Soon, Tai knew, his daughters would know he was here.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

He loved his daughters, dearly, but he still had some things to sort out, some parts of missions to deal with, some people to talk to. He wanted to give them his full attention, and he couldn't do that right now. Not with his mind in so much turmoil.

Tai reached out and rested a hand on Qrow's cheek. The man seemed to lean into it, subconsciously.

"Take care of them for me," murmured Tai. "I'll be back soon. I have one more thing to do."

Qrow nodded. He reached up and rested his hand on Tai's wrist. "I will."

Tai stared at Qrow. At this man who was laying everything on the line without saying a word. Who was baring his heart without even the smallest twitch. Only his eyes gave away what Qrow was saying. That hope, that defeat, that… _love_ , which flooded them.

"It won't take me more than a few weeks. I promise," said Tai. "Then, we'll talk."

Qrow nodded. But he didn't seem too enthusiastic about the response. Tai smiled at him, soft and patient, and let go of Qrow's cheek. He turned, flipped the hood up on his cloak, and headed back toward the docking bay, where a new ship was waiting.

He felt Qrow's eyes on him the entire time. But neither man said a word. Neither man was sure of what to say. Sometimes, both knew, silence said more anyway.

The sky faded from yellow and orange to blue. The sun rose. The day continued. And those private moments between the colours of the sunrise were put to rest until another time. One when both men would be willing to lay it all on the line.


End file.
